The objective of this study is to provide ways to meet the needs of military families experiencing deployments by testing various programs to strengthen parenting and family resilience (i.e., children's wellbeing, parents' adjustment, and marital relationships). Deployments stress families, and high operational tempos (multiple deployments occurring frequently, or unpredictably) can be particularly hard on children and parents. After Deployment, Adaptive Parenting Tools (ADAPT) is a family resilience program that helps parents to be their children's best teachers by providing them with effective positive parenting tools.

Prior rigorous research on ADAPT (using randomized trials) has shown that it benefits Service members, their partners, and their children. The program appears to improve parents' sense of control, or feelings of confidence in their parenting, and these improvements lead to better observed parenting, children's better adjustment, and less distress among and between parents. Until now, ADAPT has only been available as a "one size fits all" program (this is fairly typical among psychosocial programs). However, families' needs differ -- some parents need or want less intensive or online programs, whereas others may need more intensive or in-person programs; some parents may do better in a group program whereas others may need individual support.

The proposed study examines multiple formats, "doses," and sequences of the ADAPT program in an innovative study design known as a SMART (sequential, multiple assignment, randomized trial). This is a two-stage study, whereby families are first randomized to one of two "small dose" ADAPT interventions (i.e., condensed group or online programs), and if they need further support (i.e., are not helped by the program, as indicated by their responses on a measure of parenting sense of control), they are subsequently randomized again, either to have access to a booster group program or a booster individual family ADAPT format. The various formats and sequences are evaluated against each other to determine what works best for whom.

This is an innovative study that will advance the field of personalization or tailoring; it is the first military family personalization SMART that we know of. Based on earlier research, we expect the program to benefit families (improving adult, child, and couple adjustment, as well as parenting), but we also expect it to benefit military family providers, giving the options for alternative sequences, "doses" and components that might work for different military families. Another contribution of this study is that it is one of the few studies that will document -- using data from multiple methods and multiple reporters -- how high operational tempo conditions affect family resilience and how a parenting program might buffer these conditions, strengthening resilience. Ultimately, healthier families make for healthier Service members -- and vice versa.